Marilyn Ely Reid charged after PMMA causes woman to fall ill

A 28-year-old woman is still hooked up to an IV, can’t sit and can barely walk after she received buttocks injections of what was effectively medical cement from an unlicensed practitioner in August, Toronto police said Friday announcing the arrest of a suspect in the botched butt lift.

Police say the accused advertised buttock, lip and muscle augmentations as well as Botox injections on the website pmmainjection.com and arranged to meet clients either at home or a hotel.

Injections of polymethyl methacrylate, or PMMA, can cost thousands of dollars, and that’s the ballpark of what this woman was charged, said Toronto Police Constable Wendy Drummond.

After paying cash and receiving several injections on Aug. 26, the unidentified victim immediately fell sick with a fever that would not cease, Const. Drummond said. Three days later, she was taken to hospital by ambulance and treated for several days on antibiotics. When her condition worsened, the woman underwent surgery to have some of the injected substance removed from her buttocks.

Police say Marilyn Ely Reid, 46, of Newmarket, was not licensed to offer such a service and they worry more clients are out there thinking any side effects they suffered were normal, Const. Drummond said.

Ms. Reid is charged with criminal negligence causing bodily harm and was released from custody on Friday.

Police publicized the arrest as a buyer beware for people mulling cheaper offerings of pricey procedures — and this one has been falling out of favour with accredited surgeons and into the hands of unlicensed people, said Julie Khanna, who runs The Institute of Cosmetic & Laser Surgery in Oakville.

“You’ve now just injected a permanent product in your face or in your buttocks, and it has major risks. What are you now going to do if it wasn’t done well? It’s a permanent, foreign material,” she said. “People are downplaying these injectables — ‘Oh yeah, your hairdresser can do it for you, anyone can do it for you.’ And that’s pretty scary to me.”

PMMA was originally used as bone cement in plastic surgery, but was combined with bovine collagen in the early 1990s to become a long-term filler, Dr. Khanna said. The microscopic PMMA beads coax the body’s natural collagen to wrap around them, and as the bovine collagen from the injection fades, the natural collagen around the beads increases, so you “get a result right away and you get a long-lasting result,” she said.

Dr. Khanna, who sits on the board of the Canadian Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, said she stopped using it on clients’ faces and is not aware of any licensed professional using it on buttocks.